Auburn's offense wears Tennessee out in 26-22 win

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.(AP) -- Auburn took a big step under first-year
coach Gene Chizik, winning on the road against a top-notch
defense.

Chris Todd threw for 218 yards and a touchdown, and Ben Tate ran
for 128 yards and a score to help the Tigers beat Tennessee
26-22 and jumped out to their first 5-0 start since 2006 on
Saturday night.

"This one of those old-school, physical SEC games and we did a
good job executing most of the night," Chizik said.

Auburn (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference), which came from
behind in its other four games this season, never trailed in its
first road game of the season and has now won five straight over
the Vols - its longest streak in the series.

Tennessee (2-3, 0-2) isn't faring nearly as well in its
rebuilding efforts under new coach Lane Kiffin.

The Tigers met some resistance early from Tennessee's defense,
but slowly wore it down as they held the ball nearly 10 minutes
longer than the Vols. Auburn's third-ranked offense racked up
459 yards.

"They are so complicated," Kiffin said. "There are so many
things they do."

Tennessee made the score look closer when Jonathan Crompton
threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Denarius Moore as the clock
expired to cut the final margin to 26-22. No extra point was
attempted.

The Vols defense, which entered the game ranked eighth in the
Football Bowl Subdivision, forced the Tigers to punt six times
and limited them to field goals by Wes Byrum on four drives. The
Auburn offense entered the game averaging 45.3 points and 526.3
yards and ranked third in the FBS.

"We're trying to prove something every time we hit the field,"
Auburn fullback Mario Fannin said. "We know what we have in
mind, and that's a championship. We're just going to keep
pushing forward and get better every week."

Tennessee's offense couldn't stay on the field. The Vols went
three-and-out three times in the first half, and Crompton
fumbled a snap at the Vols 30 on the first play of a
first-quarter drive. The Vols converted only four of 17 third
downs.

By the middle of the second quarter, Auburn managed to take
advantage of the weary Vols defense and drove 87 yards in 2:32.
Tate scored on an 11-yard run to put the Tigers up 13-0 with
8:07 left before halftime.

The Tigers again drove easily on the Vols on a 70-yard drive in
the fourth quarter, and Todd connected with Terrell Zachery on
an 11-yard touchdown pass to give them a 23-6 lead.

Crompton managed to miss his receivers in every way possible: He
overthrew, underthrew and hit them in the head and at the feet.
He also didn't get any help from his targets, who dropped
several passes that were accurately thrown.

At halftime, Crompton had completed only four passes for 62
yards. Still, thanks to some success in the Vols' 2-minute
offense, he finished 20 for 43 for 259 yards and two touchdowns.

"There were drops. It was bad. There was no rhythm," Kiffin
said. "We're not good enough to overcome drops. You start adding
those drops in, and we're going to struggle."

Todd, who completed 19 of his 32 attempts, had his choice of
receivers, completing passes to eight different targets.

The Tennessee defense was noticeably frustrated, and defensive
end Chris Walker and tackle Wes Brown spoke to the entire team
in a huddle at the sideline after Tate's touchdown run.

"We have to make those plays because the defense was on the
field a lot of time in the first half, and that goes somewhat on
us," Hardesty said. "We've got to stay on the field on third
downs. We've got to keep drives going."